On Saturday, conservative Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced his resignation, saying that “no agreement” was possible with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) “on key points” toward forming a government.
On Sunday, the new leader of Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), Christian Stocker, said that the ÖVP would “not refuse talks with the FPÖ.”
The anti-immigrant and Russia-friendly FPÖ, which was founded by former Nazis in 1956, won the most seats in the National Assembly in September’s elections, but was initially blocked from forming a government with all other major parties refusing to work with it.
But that initial hard line, at least on the right of Austria’s political spectrum, now appears to be softening.
This story is being updated.